Shooting Stars
A couple of years ago - gosh, I think about 4 actually - my dad gave me a small cutting from his Hoya plant. It was a 3-inch twig with a two leaves. I literally stuck the twig in some dirt to start growing it. Since then it's grown into a 5 foot vine of several branches and today it bloomed. It's bloomed a couple of times since he gave it to me but it is a fairly rare occurrance (not more than once per year - at least that's how mine behaves).
After conducting a bit of research on the Internet, searching for photos of Hoyas for comparison, I believe the species I have is either
1) H. Carnosa Latifolia (large leaves with veining, buff flower)
2) H. Fungii (large round veined leaves. Carnosa like flower. Fragrant)
I think it is the 1st - the Carnosa Latifolia - because the cluster is only about 20-25 flowers, and the Carnosa is the easiest to find and grow. Except the leaves are speckled and not really strongly veined. It is also extremely fragrant! I could tell it had bloomed even before looking because the house was filled with a very obvious sweet smell. And there is only one cluster on it at the moment.
The other possibility is that it is a H. Dasyantha, which apparently has similar flowers to the Carnosa but they are smaller, and it has more pointed leaves than the Carnosa. However I've been unsuccessful at finding a picture of the Dasyantha to compare.
Interestingly enough, in my quest on the Internet to try and figure out what species I have, I found that the Hoya is quite a popular collector's plant. People like to collect the different species, and there are several forums out there for enthusiasts to trade cuttings. I had no idea.
If you want to learn more about Hoyas, among the results that came up while searching were:
The Hoya Page - a very informative site that discusses the history and nature of Hoyas.
HoyaPlants.com which sells a large number of Hoya species also has lots of photos.